Sinner (Children of the Corn/Malachai)

Chapter #12: Some Special Girl

Getting myself ready for the evening, I lifted my shirt over my head and set it to the side, changing into a different pair of pants as well. I laid down on the bed and switched on the lamp next to it, a swarm of thoughts beginning to take over my brain. And I wasn't surprised, but all of them were about Katie. What I didn't understand was why.

I thought about today at the pond. The way she looked at me, smiled at me, hugged me when I found her necklace and...how she almost kissed me...

My hands fell over my face and I let out a groan of genuine frustration. Why couldn't I stop thinking about that? I still had no idea if I'd even wanted it to happen or not...but also...why was Katie about to do it? She was the one who stared into my eyes first and started to lean in, clearly she knew what she was doing. But why? Did she have feelings for me? Did I have any for her? Why was that even a question I had about myself, when I know I shouldn't be having feelings of any kind for her or anybody like her? But then why did just saying her name in my mind make my stomach feel funny? Not nauseous but...tingly...My hands gripped a couple strands of my hair; this was driving me crazy! Everything revolving around Katie felt like one giant knot in my head, one that I didn't understand how to untangle.

I sighed heavily and rolled over on the bed now, spotting the picnic basket on the floor. Reaching down, I picked it up and set it next to me on the bed, opening up the top. Inside still sat Katie's radio and the containers of leftover food from earlier. Carefully, I lifted out the radio and set it down, popping open the lid to where the CDs went, finding one sitting inside. Curious, I looked only to see that it was one of her Bon Jovi CDs, the songs were written on the disc. As I scanned down the list, I saw that this was the one with the song she'd designated as "mine" on it, her's too. Without another moment of hesitation, I closed the lid to the radio and turned it on to let the disc play, lowering the volume to a safe pitch.

The sound of rock and roll music drifted out of the speakers softly as I popped open one of the little containers of food from the basket. Throwing a few pieces of popcorn in my mouth, I laid on my side and just listened to the songs play. It dawned on me when I was a few tracks in that this was Katie's favorite band. For some reason, remembering this only made me enjoy listening even more.

Finally the song that Katie had called "mine" came on; Wanted Dead or Alive. She said it reminded her of me because it sounded mysterious, like I apparently was to her. I wondered if she still saw me this way, or if she didn't, how did she see me now? Why did I even care?

Luckily, the song picking up was enough to keep me away from repeating these thoughts. I refocused on the music and ate a few more pieces of food as it went along. I would admit, the song was good - this Bon Jovi had some likeable music.

When the song finally came to an end, I allowed myself to grin. I quite liked the idea of Katie having a song that made her think of me, and she had one for herself that I could listen to as well. Particularly right now because her song came on right after mine - I remembered her's was called Runaway. Munching on some pretzels, I listened to her song, not being able to stop my mind from picturing her the entire time it played.

Although, thinking about her made my stomach tingle again, which only frustrated me once more. This was getting ridiculous, why was I feeling like this?! I just wanted to know what was going on with me!

Irritated, I immediately decided that I needed to sleep on whatever it was that my body and my head were doing. Switching off the radio, I placed it back in the picnic basket on the floor and closed it up. Lastly, I rolled onto my back and reached over to turn off the lamp next to me. As the room fell dark and silent now, I closed my eyes to sleep.

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The next day I woke up in the later part of the morning and sat up to stretch. I wouldn't lie, getting to sleep in was definitely becoming more enjoyable the longer I stayed in Hemingford. In Gatlin I always had to be one of the first ones up in the morning.